Context and objectives. Criminal careers has been a subject of interest among criminologists for over 80 years. This research has allowed a better understanding of the evolution of criminalised individuals over time. However, research focusing on the criminal careers of women are relatively rare, this being mainly attributed to the nature of the chosen sample. While overcoming the potential limitations found in previous studies, the objective of this research is to conduct a comparative study of criminal careers among men and women (as of 18 until 47 years old) under provincial jurisdiction.
Method. The sample consists of 3,320 offenders under provincial jurisdiction. The sample includes 216 female participants (6.5%) and 3104 male participants (93.5%). Descriptive statistics will be presented in order to provide a detailed portrait of offenders from 18 to 47 years old. Then, the categorical latent variable approach will be used. This type of analysis provides an estimate of sub-groups of offenders within the population that follow the growth curves separately. Thus, the proportion of individuals belonging to each of these subgroups can be estimated.
Results. Women have a lower incidence of crime than men especially at the beginning of a criminal career; however this difference disappears towards the age of 40. It appears that men and women, at a certain period of time have similarities in their criminal careers. However, the prevalence of criminality among women is quite different from men. Indeed, it appears that women begin their criminal careers later than men, with a higher proportion of crimes against property. The juvenile history of criminal offence influences the perseverance in criminal careers among men and women, regardless of the type of offence.
Conclusion. The results demonstrate the relevance of the difference between men and women during their criminal career. It should be one of the top interests for criminologists since women have different risks leading to offenses, as well as frequency and type of offense. Moreover, they appear to begin their criminal careers later than men.